IRS Refund Explained

After the IRS processes your tax return and approves your refund, you get a refund date. The IRS usually sends refunds in 21 days or less. But it’s possible in certain cases that refunds take longer.

Refund Status information is posted on the Where’s My Refund service 24 hours after your taxes are filed using e-file. For mailed paper tax returns, the refund information takes up to 4 weeks to be available.

By the way, the safest and fastest way to get your tax refund money quickly is to use the electronic deposit service. The service is free and deposits your refund directly in your banking account. You can even request to deposit your refund into multiple accounts. The IRS program is called direct deposit.